Science Fiction and Philosophy
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Review
"Science Fiction and Philosophy brings two areas together and into a dialogue: philosophy holds the fantasmatic enjoyment of science fiction to account for its illusions and awesome possibilities while science fiction reminds philosophy that all reason and no play makes thought a very dull thing indeed. Hopefully, this volume will find its way into the hands of those who wish to discover something about the highly technological world–view and horizon of meaning of our current epoch." (Discover Magazine, November 2010)
"Science Fiction and Philosophy: From Time Travel to Superintelligence (Wiley–Blackwell Publishing, 2009), Schneider mines time travel, artificial intelligence, robot rights, teleportation, and genetic modification to discuss the nature of space and time, free will, transhumanism, the self, neuroethics, and reality." (Discover, December 2010)
"Divided into five parts following themes arising from central questions in metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics, it intimately and intelligently ties works of art, which vividly bring to life the aforementioned thought experiments, together with exceptionally thought–provoking philosophical articles inspired and enlightened by the storytelling. It is not, as some edited collections tend to be, a disparate aggregate, but a successful marriage of art with analytic philosophy. It supports not only Schneider′s but an even stronger argument: that a good science fiction story is very often a philosophical argument in disguise. If science fiction and philosophy give you pleasure, you may enjoy reading this hook immensely." (Mind & Machines, Fall 2010)
“Looking over the pages one can see Schneider′s attention to detail … .Schneider has obviously made her choices for their accessibility and we should applaud her for this … .The collection stands as an important and provocative dialogue between two very rich areas of contemporary cultures and societies. Science Fiction and Philosophy gives us a chance to redeem science fiction … and take the questions it poses seriously and with a critical gaze. This volume will be of interest to audiences read in science fiction, philosophy of science, philosophy of time, philosophy of mind, consciousness studies, epistemology, robot ethics and bio–ethics and biotechnology and general audiences alike.” (Metapsychology)
Review
"I′ve always said that science fiction is a lousy name for this field; it′s really philosophical fiction: phi–fi not sci–fi! This book proves that with its penetrating analysis of the genre′s treatment of deep questions of reality, personhood, and ethics."
–– Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award–winning author of Hominids
–– Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award–winning author of Hominids
"Easily the best and most up–to–date book of its kind."
––Barry Dainton, University of Liverpool
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
After 58 pages I got bored with the constant repeated varied hypothesis within the matrix world and felt i was going round in circles, it just became so gibberish and uninteresting.
I like the author to get to the point and move on within his/her original argument or opinion.
This author simply repeats herself more times than the BBC, so to speak.
I like the author to get to the point and move on within his/her original argument or opinion.
This author simply repeats herself more times than the BBC, so to speak.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5 reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
worthy attempt, could have been done better
14 May 2011
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I am going to use this book for an undergraduate class on scifi and philosophy, so obviously I think well enough of it. The idea is certainly a good one, as science fiction - at its best - is all about broadly construed thought experiments, one of the primary tools of philosophers. The range of philosophical topics one can introduce via scifi is huge, and many of them are touched upon in this collection: virtual worlds and radical skepticism, free will and the nature of personhood, natural vs artificial minds, ethical and political philosophy, as well as the philosophy of time. There are two issues I wish the editor (Susan Schneider) would have paid more attention to (perhaps she will in future editions): first, and most obviously, there should be a tighter connection between the essays and the scifi movies that allegedly provide the impetus for the philosophical discussions. Instead, the movies are simply listed without comment at the beginning of each section, and pretty much never mentioned within the essays. This is, I think, because the essays themselves were not commissioned for this purpose (unlike several other "philosophy and pop culture" books out there). Still, the editor could have provided a better integration herself. My second issue is that some authors / points of view are overrepresented. In particular, Ray Kurzweil - the brilliant nut job who writes about the forthcoming singularity-based end of the world and co-authors books on how to stay young forever with a homeopath - gets two essays without even being a professional philosopher (and it shows). Still, all around a fascinating amount of food for thought, definitely recommended to anyone with an interest in scifi as a serious genre and who wishes to cogitate about philosophy in a lighthearted manner.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Must Have!
3 Oct 2009
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book is a fantastic book that is both fun to read and thought provoking. If you have ever thought about any question like What am I? What makes me...me? Could I be in a "Matrix?"?, ever had any love for science fiction, or have ever had any sort of interest in philosophy, this book is great. It is easy to read even if you do not have any sort of experience with philosophy, and even if you do it still can easily get your mind going. There aren't a lot of books that can go from Plato to the Matrix to Neuroethics, but this sure can. It is one of my favorite books, and I highly recommend it.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Science-Fiction and Philosophy.
20 Oct 2009
Format:Paperback
_Science Fiction and Philosophy: From Time Travel to Superintelligence_ (2009) is a fascinating collection of philosophical essays dealing with issues that have been perennial themes in science-fiction edited by Susan Schneider. These essays show what was previously regarded solely as science-fiction or idle speculation has increasingly become the reality of science fact. The editor maintains that science-fiction serves as a useful source for thought experiments and philosophical puzzles. However, the issues presented by science-fiction are not solely mere puzzles. In fact, to further our understanding of science it is increasingly necessary to understand such conundrums and paradoxes so that we may come to understand the perennial issues that have haunted humanity since the dawn of our existence. Issues such as whether or not we live in the "Matrix" and computer simulation, free will and the nature of persons, the role of mind and our understanding of what an artificial intelligence might be, ethical questions raised by new technologies, artificial intelligence, bio-science, and the various political issues that accompany such questions, and finally the nature of space and time and whether time travel is possible (outside of the trivial case). The book provides a fascinating source for our understanding of the perspectives various modern philosophers and theorists have taken on such issues. In particular, with the enormous advance in technology, the development of modern science in terms of cognition, bio-science (genetic engineering, etc.), computers, and issues from theoretical physics, such timeless philosophical issues have again re-appeared in our age. This book offers a look at the fore-front of philosophical thinking concerning such issues. Highly recommended.
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